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Dubai: The value of gold futures traded on the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) rose 58.7 per cent in July compared to June, figures released by the bourse on Tuesday showed.
DGCX traded 109,289 gold futures contracts in July valued at $3.3 billion, up from 72,829 contracts valued at $2.08 billion the previous month, it said in a statement.
Total volumes of all contracts - commodities and currencies - traded on DGCX in July stood at 821,388 contracts valued at $43.3 billion, DGCX said.
"Interest in derivatives is certainly gaining ground in the region, as evidenced by the growing trade on DGCX," Malcolm Wall Morris, DGCX chief executive officer said in the statement.
Spot gold hit a record of $1,030.80 an ounce on March 17 on dollar weakness, record crude oil, fears of inflation and expectations of more rate cuts in the United States, making the metal more attractive as an alternative investment.
The price has since recoiled to just under $900 an ounce.
Dubai launched the region's first gold futures exchange in 2005 as the economies of Gulf nations boomed on oil income.
Total open interest for gold as on July 31 stood at 1,767 contracts, down from 1,831 contracts on June 30, while average daily volume stood at 4,968 up from 3,468 the previous month, DGCX said.
Dubai is a long-established market for bullion as well as wholesale and retail jewellery. Trade has benefited from strong demand from the Arab world and proximity to India, the world's main gold market.
Ambitious
DGCX, which offers futures contracts in gold, silver, steel, fuel and crude oil and currencies, wants to become a major commodities centre in the region. Its activities almost doubled in 2007.
In May it listed two cash-settled light sweet crude oil contracts in the world's top oil exporting region in order to allow local funds in the region to invest in oil futures without taking money elsewhere.
Trading in all futures contracts touched a record 14,066 contracts on July 11 - the exchange's highest daily value of above $978 million.
The bourse plans to launch four plastics futures contracts this year to cater for the rapidly growing petrochemicals industry in the Gulf, which has half of the world's petrochemical projects.
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